Smoking deaths attributed

Estimated annual excess cases of childhood illness and death attributable to parental smoking in the United States include low birth weight (46,000 cases, 2800 perinatal deaths), sudden infant death syndrome (2,000 deaths), RSV bronchiolitis (22,000 hospitalisations, 1,100 deaths), acute otitis media (3.4 million outpatient visits), otitis media with effusion (110,000 tympanostomies), asthma (1.8 million outpatient visits, 14 deaths), and fire-related injuries (10,000 outpatient visits, 590 hospitalisations, and 250 deaths). Parental smoking was found to be an important preventable cause of morbidity and mortality among American children it results in annual direct medical expenditures of USD 4.6 billion and loss of life costs of USD 8.2 billion [298(NC)]. 

The continuous rapid growth of applications of polymers in construction and other areas coupled with the rising proportion of deaths attributed to toxic gases/smoke, have led to widespread concerns over the toxicity of burning polymers and their possible contribution... 

The fire death rate in the United States is decreasing, dropping from a rate of 76 per million in the 1940s, when most constmction and decorative products were made of natural materials, to 29 per million in the 1980s, by which time, PVC had replaced natural materials in numerous appHcations (189). This downward trend can be attributed in large part to improved building codes and the broader use of sprinkler systems and smoke detectors. However, the increased use of more fire-resistant materials, such as PVC, deserves part of the credit for this improvement. 

From the commencement of the fog and low visibility, many people experienced difficulty breathing, the effects occurring more or less simultaneously over a large area of hundreds of square kilometers. The rise in the number of deaths (Fig. 18-4) paralleled the mean daily smoke and sulfur dioxide concentrations daily deaths reached a peak on December 8 and 9, with many of them related to respiratory troubles. Although the deaths decreased when the concentrations decreased, the deaths per day remained considerably above the pre-episode level for some days. Would most of the persons who died have died soon afterward anyway If this were the case, a below-normal death rate would h ve occurred following the episode. This situation did not seem to exist, but detailed analysis was complicated by increased deaths in January and February 1953 which were attributed primarily to an influenza outbreak. 

Figure 1. The age-specific incidence of lung cancer deaths in male cigarette smokers and nonsmokers (Kahn, 1966, Appendix Table A). The lifetime incidence for nonsmokers includes lung cancers attributable to passive smoking, asbestos inhalation, and other occupational exposures.

Leistikow BN, Martin DC, Milano CE (2000a) Estimates of smoking-attributable deaths at ages 15-54, motherless or fatherless youths, and resulting Social Security costs in the United States in 1994. Prev Med 30 353-360... 

National trends of cardiovascular mortality are incompatible with these risk estimates excess deaths may not be attributable entirely to smoking the clinical diagnosis of thromboembolism is often unreliable. 

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates that 3,000 lung cancer deaths and as many as 40,000 cardiac deaths per year among adult nonsmokers in the United States can be attributed to passive smoke or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). 

Kage et al. (75) applied their GC/ECD/GC/MS method to the analysis of blood levels in two casualties who died from cyanide poisoning. Blood levels of cyanide and thiocyanate in a subject who died following ingestion of sodium cyanide were 0.52 and 0.10 umol/ml respectively (= 13 and 5.6 xg/ml). Levels determined in a fatal victim of smoke inhalation were 0.28 and 0.13umol respectively (= 7.3 and 7.5 xg/ml). Fatal levels of cyanide are estimated as 0.05-0.1 umol/ml (= 1.3-2.6 xg/ml). The lower levels of thiocyanate in comparison to cyanide in the blood were attributed to the sudden death they were twice the mean levels ( 0.06 pmol/ml) found in cigarette smokers. 2-Aminothiazoline-4-carboxylic acid was detected in the urine of moderate cigarette smokers at concentrations between <0.3-1.1 xM (76). 

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is now the leading cause of death in many developed countries. In the UK about 30% of these deaths can be attributed to smoking. 

Nicotine and the other ingredients in tobacco have been cited as causing a variety of fatal illnesses. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1991 listed the causes of death related to smoking with annual death toll as follows (cardiovascular) heart disease, 150,000 stroke, 26,000 other, 24,000 (cancer) lung, 112,000 other, 31,000 (non-malignant pulmonary disease) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 62,000 other, including pneumonia and influenza, 21,000 for a total of 426,000 fatalities a year directly attributable to tobacco. Further, the CDC points out that tobacco is also responsible for an annual... 

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